What we learned this week #65

In case you managed to miss it (although really, how could you) this was Parents’ Week, a campaign to get families to spend more time together, which – ideally – leads to happier families! Now happy as a new iPad might make your sprogs, we took a look at some of the broader issues affecting your kids in the digital world.

Stay on top of text lingo!

That’s the warning from Tamsin Oxford, once she got through listing a bunch of acronyms I definitely know, being a cool hep cat:

‘Let’s see if you know any of these: 182, 420, IWSN, CD9 and GNOC. These are, in order of appearance: I hate you, marijuana, I want sex now, code 9 – parents are around, and Get Naked on Cam. If you see this: LMIRL (Let’s Meet in Real Life) or NIFOC (Nude In Front of the Computer) your alarm bells need to be going like klaxons in a videogame. The list is almost endless, but as a parent you must be aware of the ones that are potentially harmful to your children and that raise red flags about their behaviour.’

We need to rethink cyberbullying!

Not, like, we need to start celebrating it, we just need to find new ways to prevent. Or so argues James Diamond (and he’s an expert, so you should pay attention):

‘The NSPCC in the UK has reported that bullying is the main reason children call Childline. I think the action we must take is to mitigate the harm that cyberbullying can cause, and provide the support and education to ensure children feel comfortable and confident in reporting bullying.

‘Perhaps our resources would be better channelled into excellent schemes like BeatBullying’s Cyber Mentors, increasing the ways children can report bullying, and applying existing legislation in the most serious cases. Cyberbullying at its most extreme is a crime, and like all crimes we need to focus on victim support and reducing reoffending.’

 

 

About Tom

Tom Baker is a recent graduate from University of Derby's joint Creative Writing and Media Writing programmes. He has written lots of short stories, a whole mess of music writing, two poems, and a song about a mentally ill playwright.

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